1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for determining whether or not a mammal is affected with a lung cancer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Substances (a kind of proteins) that exist in a large amount only in cancer cells but either do not exist, or even though exist, do exist in just a slight amount in normal cells have been known. Such proteins are referred to as “tumor markers”. Tumor marker tests, in general, quantitatively determine a tumor marker in blood, and have been used for the purpose of aiding diagnosis of cancer, or confirming the degree of progression of cancer.
Conventional tumor markers are high molecular substances such as hormones, enzymes, isozymes or fragmented proteins. Since there are great differences among individuals in blood levels of these conventional tumor markers, usability in diagnosing cancer has been unsatisfactory due to occurrence of false negative and false positive.